High schoolers sound off on the wisdom of going to war

Janice Greene

Published
4:00 am PST, Friday, February 21, 2003

On the eve of a probable war with Iraq, what are young people feeling? Here's a variety of responses from Jennifer Gray's freshman English and honors junior English classes at Ursuline and Cardinal Newman high schools in Santa Rosa.

The scenario could not have been scripted better: a tyrant, already defeated in battle, refusing to give up his only claim to power -- weapons of mass destruction -- and a cowboy/president, whose father began the war with this tyrant. In the past 12 years, not much progress has been made by way of negotiation, so maybe we need a gun-toting cowboy. Heck, he's even got me scared. Saddam must be shivering.

Is the war worth it? Will we obtain our goal or will we just be wasting taxpayer money and, more importantly, human life?

Saddam Hussein
has used biological weapons against his own people. He has willingly invaded other countries. Does this give us the right to send troops to Iraq? Should we take our anger at al Qaeda and use it to fight the Iraqi people?

Keelin Bogart, 16

After Sept. 11th, 2001, the United States opened more channels of communication and received more support from other countries than any time since World War II. The international community formed a neighborhood watch, and we became the main force of that group. But we still need the support of the rest of that group. Iraq is a house on the street we share with the world, and we cannot just burn it down.

Saddam Hussein is practically begging for a war. He is hiding something great and terrible from us. We are already in this war -- whether we like it or not. Americans will die and it's most likely our proud country will be bombed. We need to take a stand and fight on our own before Iraq gives us something to fight about.

Nobody wants to leave what they have, their family and friends, and go to war and fight. I don't want go to war! I have friends and family close to the age of being drafted if necessary. However, in this situation, the world's freedom and beliefs are at stake. Are we just going to sit around and watch these people take away what makes our country united? I don't think so!

Some may say that I am just a teenager and my opinions don't really matter. It's true, I don't know everything that is happening in the world today, but I do know that if a third grader can solve a problem on the playground without using violence, why do grown men and women find this impossible?

Whatever President Bush's motives may be for wanting to have this war -- to eliminate weapons of mass destruction or just to get oil -- Saddam Hussein is a threat that needs to be eliminated. I think that if Hussein has nuclear capabilities he would not be afraid to use them, making him the biggest threat to our country today.

Being the son of a Vietnam War draftee, I have heard stories of war my whole life. Now as America nears a war with Iraq, specifically Saddam Hussein and his regime, my Dad's stories have taken a new meaning. It could be possible for me to serve my country when I turn 18 if Congress reinstates the draft. According to the just-war theory, the war must be a last resort, and, like many Americans, I feel that President Bush has not justified this vital piece of the criteria for a just war. War with Iraq is necessary only if President Bush's premonitions of weapons of mass destruction become a known fact.

As President Bush begins to heighten his preparations for a war with Iraq both strategically and morally, his motivations are still not entirely clear. He points to extreme human rights violations, Iraq's alleged weapons-of-mass- destruction program and possible terrorist allegiances as necessitating war, yet much of the evidence that he refers to is not able to be studied in depth or scrutinized by the public or the global community. The lack of openness that has come to be a trademark of the Bush administration, whether it be about "enemy combatants" held captive in Camp X-Ray without legal representation; the interrogation techniques being employed on suspected terrorists; or withholding information about Bush and Cheney's financial histories with Harken and Halliburton, is disconcerting from a government that stresses Saddam Hussein's need for complete and total openness and honesty with the
U.N.
It is something that the Bush administration is unwilling to give even to its own people .

War against Iraq is not a question that is ours as a nation, but a decision that must be in concert with the rest of the United Nations. To give the U.N. power in the world, we must be willing to bow to its decisions, not by declaring that our choices are independent from theirs. We are not the only nation that is a target for "terrorism," nor are we alone.

Many people believe we should not go to war with Iraq because it would kill innocent people. Innocent people are already killed every day in Iraq. The totalitarian dictator, Saddam Hussein, rules much like Hitler or Stalin. His secret police control all aspects of Iraqi society. Hussein is responsible for the deaths of over a million people, many of which were his own subjects. Starvation, nerve gas, biological agents, and the most brutal forms of torture are commonly used to keep the Iraqis under Hussein's control. The Iraqis would benefit more than anyone from Hussein's removal.

Hussein has biological and chemical weapons and will not hesitate to use them, as he has previously demonstrated in the war against Iran. Hussein needs to be stopped. The only country with the resources to do it is the United States. Sometimes war, as horrible as it is, is the only way.

George Bush
has become so obsessed with his plan to take down Saddam that he has forgotten the pressing domestic problems that need to be dealt with before a war is pursued abroad. The economy, the environment, health care; these issues need to be addressed before Bush starts his grudge match with Saddam. Continuing a family legacy of animosity toward Iraq will only further damage the United States' reputation and will ensure future terrorist attacks on innocent Americans.